How Do You Redefine Something?:

"BUT WHY NOT?" Toby yelled at me, asking this same question for the fifth time. Well for the fifth time this argument at least.

"BECAUSE I CAN TAKE CARE OF IT MYSELF! I DON'T NEED THE BACK UP!" I screamed back at him feeling even more frustrated because I now had to look up into his face which made me feel less authoritative. "AND I ESPECIALLY DON'T NEED HIS HELP!"

The anger in Toby's face softened minutely at my vague reference to his biological father. Neither of us talked about the Winchesters much since I told Toby about our break up. Toby was convinced that we would get back together eventually and it wasn't lost on me that we were fighting more frequently because of that. Of course Toby never said his name, but he was picking fights with me about pretty much everything when his parents weren't around and we both knew what we were fighting about even if it continued to go unsaid.

He seemed to catch the shift of his expression because he forced his face to harden as he asked, "And what if it turns out to be a Leviathan thing?" His question came so far out of left field that my only reply was a confused look. "Because that's what happened in Portland you know… SAM told me all about it… WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?"

"What…?"

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME LEVIATHANS WERE KILLING PEOPLE UP THERE? IS IT BECAUSE YOU'RE HUNTING BY YOURSELF AGAIN AND YOU'RE TRYING TO PROTECT ME?" His voice got louder with every word as his face reddened in anger. "I'M NOT A LITTLE KID ANYMORE ADDY! YOU DON'T HAVE TO PROTECT ME FROM THE TRUTH!"

"WHAT?" I repeated just to give myself a moment to absorb what he had just said. "I didn't tell you Toby because I didn't know! I went to CANADA! REMEMBER? They had it all figured out so I moved on!"

"NO THEY DIDN'T! When you left they THOUGHT it was just cursed objects! Then they had to FIGHT TWO LEVIATHANS THAT SURPRISED THEM!" He paused to take a deep breath then said a bit more calmly, "If you hadn't left when you did then it would have been you that they would have tried to eat. What would you have done if they hadn't taken over the case?"

I reached out to gently grasp his arm sighing out a despondent, "Toby…"

He immediately smacked my hand away shouting, "NO! SAM ALSO SAID THAT THINGS ARE WORSE NOW THAN THEY'VE EVER BEEN…"He turned away from me and started pacing. "I think you should go back to hunting with them."

"Toby," I replied through clenched teeth. "We've been over this already. We broke up and now I'm back to working on my own, end of story."

He stopped in his spot to face me with his arms crossed over his chest. With his height advantage he could easily look quite intimidating, but it wouldn't work on me. I had been taught at a young age that it was always brains that won over brawn and that intimidation could only get you so far. Plus I found that flirting with most men got me what I wanted much faster than trying to out butch them. Mum used to always use the analogy of catching more flies with honey than vinegar to explain why that phenomenon happened.

"But Sam said that if it wasn't for the one Leviathan wanting his boss dead that they might not have won… What would you have done then huh?" He asked in a smug, self-satisfied tone.

I shook my head and didn't try to hide my distain as I answered, "I would have done what they did… Improvise. You do remember that I've been doing this longer than the Winchesters, right? They aren't the only ones that know a few tricks."

"BUT THERE WERE TWO OF THEM! HOW ARE YOU GOING TO FIGHT OFF TWO LEVIATHANS AT ONE TIME?" Toby screamed with a hint of desperation.

"I won't know until I'm in that situation." He stared at me with his mouth hanging open with disbelief. "What? Weren't you just yelling at me about me not being honest with you? Well there… That's the God's honest truth. You can only preplan so much for a job and with something like this I won't know until it happens because I don't know what resources I'll have at my disposal."

Suddenly an ugly sneer spread across Toby's face and he stood up taller saying, "Alright… Good… So you're up for being completely honest now, huh? Good… What's the real reason you and Dean broke up this time?"

"TOBY! NO!" I yelled in utter frustration. "I ALREADY TOLD YOU THAT SOME THINGS AREN'T FOR EVERYONE TO KNOW! HE AND…"

"THAT'S SUCH BULLSHIT ADDY!" He quickly interrupted. "IF YOU'RE GOING TO LIE TO ME ABOUT THAT, WHAT ELSE ARE YOU KEEPING FROM ME?"

"TOBIAS JONATHAN CONNOR! YOU KNOW THAT KIND OF LANGUAGE ISN'T TOLERATED… EVER!" I nearly shrieked because I was so outraged.

In the past Toby had been instantly repentant when I had reprimanded him like that, but today his reaction was far from the norm. Somehow he managed to look even taller as he confidently replied, "It is whenever you, Dean or Sam use it, so what's the difference? And you still haven't answered the question ADELAIDE."

It was the first time Toby had used my full name with utter distain, but I couldn't let myself focus on that right now.

"And I'm not going to," I replied letting my voice get dangerously low. When I took a step towards him, Toby actually shrunk back a bit at the look on my face. "I've already told you everything that you need to know about that topic and that's all you're getting. Now I'm sick and tired of having this same argument with you, so I'm ending it here and you're going up to your room."

Toby's eyes went wide with surprise as he just barely managed to mumble out, "What?"

"You heard me Tobias. Go to your room… NOW!" I said with a stern tone that I rarely used with the teenager.

Practically all of the fight seeped out of Toby's body as he said with a whine, "But Addy I just want to understand…"

"NO! I told you enough is enough! Now GO! GET YOUR ASS UPSTAIRS!" I yelled over his plea.

Toby started to walk towards the stairs as he said, "It's not fair! Why do YOU get to swear! Why do YOU get to decide when the argument is over? Why do I HAVE to go to my room? Why do YOU get to hide the truth?"

He paused at the bottom of the stairs, so I squared my shoulders and didn't mind that I might have had a smug look on my face as I replied, "Why? Well Toby it's because I'M the adult and you're sleeping under MY roof until your parents get back. When YOU start paying the bills, YOU get to make the rules Little Man." He opened his mouth to say something so I quickly added in a low, vicious tone, "How much detail do you want me to give your mother about your behavior these last couple of days when she asks how things went?"

The only response I got from him was a look of pure terror before he ran up the stairs to his room. I remained cemented in my place until I heard Toby slam his bedroom door shut. It only took a second for my steely exterior to shatter into a million pieces and I nearly felt like I could break down into tears.

Blackmail Addy? You're resorting to fucking blackmail now? Yeah… Right… You're the adult I thought to myself as I flopped onto the couch. Real fucking mature…

I sat there with my head in my hands and was just about to go upstairs to apologize to Toby when my phone rang. My hand was scooping up my cell off the coffee table before I could consciously stop myself as I answered it with a weary, "Hello?"

"Hey Addy… Uhh… Is this a bad time? Am I interrupting something?"

I couldn't keep myself from doing it so I let out an uncomfortable laugh as I replied, "Nothing important Sam, just an incredibly mature (I made sure that word was dripping with sarcasm) screaming match that I was having with your nephew."

"A fight with Toby? What about?" He asked sounding sad and distracted.

"Sam," I sighed out feeling utterly exhausted. "I'll give you two guesses and the first one doesn't count."

Sam had the decency to sound somewhat shocked when he said, "He's still picking fights with you about your break up with Dean?"

"Yeah he is… But please don't sound so surprised. Stubbornness… It kind of runs in the family, no?" Sam scoffed softly before I asked, "But I'm guessing that that isn't what you called to talk about, so let's drop it because it's old news. What's up with you?"

My phone beeped to tell me that I had another incoming call. I pulled my phone away to check the number and since I didn't recognize it I just let the call go to voicemail.

"… So I was calling to find out if Toby's found anything to help me at all," I heard him say once I got my cell back to my ear.

I swallowed hard to try to hide my guilt before attempting to respond, "He's trying Sam, I swear… But there's practically nothing in any of my books about a soul being pulled out of Hell when the physical body has been alive on Earth. He's still giving it his best efforts… And he's only mad at me… You and your brother are still in his good graces so he's really giving it his all."

"Really? Even Dean since…?"

"I haven't told him what… Why we called it quits. They have a good relationship so if anyone is going to ruin that by telling him the truth it can be your brother. Plus he's so pissed off at me right now, I'm not even sure he'd believe me if I did tell him."

Sam groaned but it sounded like it was more out of pain than sympathy causing me to say, "But seriously that's enough about me… How's that melon of yours? Lucifer still playing the part of 'world's most annoying little brother ever'?"

"Yeah," Sam answered with a surprised laugh. "But it's okay. I've checked myself into somewhere safe for now."

"Checked…? Sam where are you?" I asked sounding scarily maternal.

"Psychiatric ward," he answered almost as an afterthought.

I gasped softly and had to force myself to keep my voice from trembling as I questioned, "Which one Sam? Because some of them are just… Sammy where are you locked up? Tell me, please?"

"Northern Indiana State Hospital," he answered just over a whisper. "And my phone time is up… If you…"

"I know where to find you now… I promise I'll let you know," I replied in a rapid, nervous ramble. "Sammy? We're gonna fix this, I promise you that, okay? We'll fix everything somehow."

Sam said a quick "Thanks Addy" before the line went dead.

I pinched the bridge of my nose in a futile attempt to fight off the headache that was slowly starting to throb behind my eyes as my last two conversations caught up with me fast. Toby was beyond pissed off at me and I honestly couldn't totally blame him. I was hiding a huge secret from him and I knew that if roles were reversed that I would feel the exact same way he did right now. But the icing on the cake was what was happening to Sam. The last time I saw him he looked beyond terrible, so I couldn't even imagine how much worse Lucifer's efforts had gotten for Sam to have voluntarily put himself on lock down in the mental ward of a hospital.

I rarely, well I pretty much never, drank anything stronger than beer or wine when Toby was staying with me, but today felt like it could be an exception. I placed my phone back on the coffee table and moved over to my newly restocked liquor cabinet. After pouring myself a healthy serving, I placed the bottle to my lips for a long swallow. I then replaced the cork in the Glenlivet bottle, put it back on the shelf and carried my glass over to the couch with slow, lethargic steps.

Where do we even start? I questioned silently with my eyes closed. I opened them to pick up my glass but I immediately got side-tracked by the red flashing LED light on my cell. What the fuck? They left me a voicemail? Who are you?

My phone was ringing through to my voicemail by the time I got it to my ear. I wasn't sure whose voice I expected to hear, but I still let out a relieved sigh when I heard a familiar, gravelly voice saying, "It's Mackey. Call me back as soon as you can."

Short and sweet I thought to myself as I dialed his number with a chuckle.

"Mackey."

I started at the sound of his voice but tried not to let it show as I said, "Hey Mack, it's been a while… To what do I owe the honor? Err… Uhh… And… How's the eye doing?"

"I'm good Addy Jones," he answered in a tone that was sure to convey that 'catching up' wasn't his prime motivator for calling me. "So I got a call from this guy who's looking for some help and he says that he knows Bobby Singer well enough to get my number from him…"

I made sure to let him hear my sharp intake of breath before trying to casually say, "Really? Because that's a pretty heavy name to throw around… Especially since he's not around to defend himself to anyone and all."

"And that's precisely why I called you. I seem to vaguely recall you mentioning this guy's name when we were… Hanging out…" He paused there suddenly before adding, "So this Dean guy called me because he's looking to heal someone… He said that he kind of got my number from Bobby, which got me thinking of 'the Dean' you talked about more than once… So…? Is he legit?"

My mind was reeling with so many conflicting emotions that it was hard for me to sound pensive as I clarified, "This De- This guy…? The one that contacted you? Who was…? Who is he looking to heal?"

"He mumbled something about Sam on his…"

"He's LEGIT!" I inadvertently shouted in my haste. "He's totally legit and you're right… He's the guy you heard me talk about… So…? Mack…? Does that mean that you know a healer? Like a full blown, practically unnatural healer?"

Mackey laughed softly at my excited tone then answered, "Yeah Addy I actually do… He fixed my eye and everything without asking for anything in return."

My right hand smashed itself over my heart as I meekly asked, "But how…? Who…? Where…?"

"All I know is that his name is Emmanuel… If you grab a pen and paper I'll give you his number," the hunter continued in an unhurried tone.

"I've got a pen… Hit me Mack."

He then rattled off a bunch of numbers that would thankfully turn out to sound a lot like a phone number and address. When he was finished giving me that information Mackey solemnly asked, "So Addy? This Dean guy? Is he worthy of me calling him back and giving him this information?"

I hesitated for a second because I wanted Mackey's caller to suffer, but suddenly I heard myself questioning him, "Just to be doubly sure, what did he say that his number was?"

"785-555-0128," the hunter replied simply (and almost as if he had expected me to ask that question before now).

After making sure I had it recorded down on a note pad (not that I EVER planned on using the number, I just didn't want to always wonder if that unknown number on my screen was his or not) I hoarsely answered, "Yeah… Yeah, you should… Not that it holds much weight, but it would make me feel a thousand times better if you called him back as soon as possible. Sam deserves that much."

"Okay," Mackey replied thoughtfully. "So he passed the tests and earned the info… No problem Addy, I'll call him once we hang up."

I let out a sigh of relief before adding, "Thanks Mack. I swear anyway that I can do to make this up to you I will. Like… Booty call for life at least."

"Really?" He questioned sound pretty sincere. "Because I'm just outside of Cascade right now…"

Unconsciously I stole a glance at the stairs to the second floor of my house because I had sort of meant my comment to just be a joke. I then replied without thinking while sounding quite excited and breathy, "You know the spare room in my garage? Call me when you get there."

I hung up before Mackey could say anything else and was moving towards the stairs. When I reached Toby's bedroom door I hesitated because the fact that he still chose my childhood bedroom as his own still wasn't lost on me. With that in mind I lost all of my previous anger to softly tap against his door quietly calling out, "Toby…? Tobs…?" When those two questions went unanswered I couldn't help but sound tearful when I tried again, "Toblerone…? Please Buddy open…"

Before I could finish my statement the door flew open so that I could see Toby's tear-streaked face. He moved as if he was going to wrap me in a hug but stopped himself quickly and I unfortunately did the same. We had a stupid mini-standoff at the door until Toby stepped back (with new tears sliding down his cheeks) to let me enter my old bedroom.

I unconsciously wrung my hands together before hurriedly saying, "So I just got a call from a hunter who thinks that he can help the guys…"

"Really!" Toby jumped in excitedly sounding like his cheeks weren't still moist with his tears. He then cast his eyes to the floor and sat down on his bed saying, "Because I'm still coming up with nothing but goose eggs."

I placed my hands on either side of his face to force eye contact as I replied, "I told you it would be tougher to find the answer to this than anything else we've ever researched, so don't get down on yourself, okay? But yeah… He thinks he has a viable lead."

Toby's eyes bugged out so I quickly added, "Buddy I need you to stay here, continuing your research, while I check up on this lead, okay? I'll only be away for like two hours or so… Are you fine staying here on your own for that long?"

He was already heading over towards his desk where he kept his laptop as he distractedly answered, "Yeah… Sure… No problem Addy."

When I reached the top of the stairwell I tried to remind myself that Toby's 'indifference' was a welcomed relief from his usual rapid fire questions and not an anomaly for me to figure out right now. Instead I was happy to take it as our way of calling a truce, at least for the time being. As luck would have it, it only took my downing two full tumblers of scotch before I heard Mackey's truck pulling into my back yard. I swallowed a third glassful before rushing out the backdoor to meet him as he exited his truck.

Mackey knew my rules so I had no qualms about leaving him passed out in a blissful daze on the bed in the garage while I quickly dressed and went inside. I didn't want Toby to ever be a witness to this side of me, so I wanted to get back in the house as soon as possible. I locked the new deadbolt of the reinforced aluminum door at the rear of my house before quickly checking the front door as well. I even double checked the Devil's Traps at each door because I was feeling the usual paranoia that haunted me whenever I had unfinished business that I was ignoring. Mackey understood our relationship perfectly which was made clear as I watched his truck retreat down my driveway the next morning. We had our fun last night, so now we were both ready to continue with our daily routines.

I went into the kitchen to make coffee and by the time I got back to the living room to read I noticed that I had a voice mail waiting for me. I was more than surprised to hear Mackey's voice coming through my phone saying, "It was great seeing you again Addy. Don't be a stranger" because he was more of the strong silent type who didn't really admit that he wanted to stay connected to anyone.

"Who…?" Toby started to ask when he got into the living room. He shook his head and muttered "Forget it" before asking "Is there any coffee left?"

"Of course… I made a fresh pot," I answered meekly. I followed him into the kitchen as I asked, "Did you want me to whip something up to eat for breakfast?"

Toby shook his head then said, "No that's okay. I'll just have cereal… Thanks anyway."

I watched him get his meal together while I stayed by the coffee pot, sipping from my mug. Once he was settled at the kitchen table, I placed my mug on the island and leaned with my elbows on top of it saying, "I was listening to a voicemail from Mackey."

He swallowed his mouthful then asked, "Who's he? I mean… I don't remember ever hearing you talk about him at all."

"He's a hunter that I've known for a while. He's the one that had the information about the healer," I answered while taking a seat across from him. "I haven't really worked with him much so I probably haven't really mentioned his name at all."

"And this healer…? Do you think they're for real?"

I could tell that Toby was trying not to get too hopeful, so I made sure that there wasn't a hint of doubt in my voice when I replied, "Sounds like it to me. Mack had actually sort of semi-retired for a while because he was losing sight in one of his eyes. He contacted the healer, put him through all of the usual tests and well… Now he has perfect vision in both eyes."

"Wow… Really?" He asked in wide-eyed awe. "So do you really think that this could work for Sam?"

I shrugged then honestly answered, "I'm not sure, but there's no harm in trying, right?"

"Right." We sat in silence finishing out coffees when Toby cleared his throat loudly then quietly said, "I'm sorry Addy."

His apology caught me so off guard that I just stared at him and forced the liquid I had in my mouth down my throat.

"I should have respected your wishes and dropped the subject of your break up with Dean," he continued with tears welling up in his eyes. "And I'm sorry for swearing at you. I know Mom hates it when people cuss, but I was just so angry. I hate seeing you get hurt."

Tears trickled down Toby's cheeks so I got up and wrapped him in a tight hug as I replied, "Hey… Shh… Don't cry Buddy." I kissed his forehead and looked him straight in the eye. "And thank you for the apology. I hate it when we fight."

He wrapped his arms around my waist and rested his head against my stomach. "Yeah, me too. I promise I won't bring it up anymore and that I'll watch my language so that Mom won't get mad and take my researching privileges away."

"Thanks Toby… And as much as I appreciate you worrying about me, you really don't have to… Especially this time." He sat back so I reached out and held his face and stroked his cheeks with my thumbs. "I'm okay Toby. I've moved on and I can accept that that chapter of my life is over. So no worries, okay?"

"No…" He replied sounding deadly serious. I started to mentally prepare myself for yet another argument when his lips pulled back into a playful smirk. "I get to worry about you a little bit, remember?"

Toby flashed me a wicked grin and I really hoped that he wouldn't see how much he reminded me of his father. But his words truly were beyond touching so I pulled him into another hug nearly whispering, "I remember Buddy… I remember."

I forced myself to let him go because I was worried that if I kept him wrapped in my arms any longer that I would break down into tears. I started clearing the table to keep myself busy as I asked, "So what do you have on tap today Buddy?"

He met me by the dishwasher to load his bowl and mug answering, "I finished all of my homework last night, so I was thinking that I'd keep looking into helping Sam… You know just in case the healer can't help and all."

Toby leaned over to kiss my cheek then turned to leave, but I stopped him by calling out, "Hey Toby…? I was thinking… If you wanted to take a break from research that we could maybe watch a movie or something…?"

"Yeah… Sure… Maybe later we could do that."

Things between Toby and me were awkward for a while, but we eventually were able to get things back to being close to our old relationship. Everything had actually become so comfortable between us that Toby started hanging out at my house after school to do research on the days that he didn't have baseball practice or homework. I let him do most of the online searches while I stuck to sifting through my library and news channels to find new hunts or information about Leviathans.

"Hey Addy? I think I found something…"

I perked up in my seat on the couch because I knew that it most likely meant that he had found a job for me to work. Sam had called to tell me that 'Emmanuel' actually turned out to be our favorite angel, Castiel. The eldest Winchester was able to convince the angel to try his best to heal Sam when Castiel initially had been reluctant to do so. He didn't get overly specific with the details (and from the sound of Sam's voice I assumed that that was because he didn't have them) but at first Castiel couldn't rebuild the wall that Death had erected, so the angel took on Sam's psychosis himself. None of us understood how that worked, so Toby and I abandoned our research on fixing a damaged soul (because really if we couldn't find anything when it came to humans, what were the chances we'd find anything relevant on the topic when it came to angels?) and focused our attention on Dick Roman's strange activities. Anytime either of us got too frustrated (well mostly just me because when it came to research Toby could sometimes care less where it led, he just loved the journey) with solving the enigma that was the Leviathan's master plans, Toby and I would try to find a hunt close to home that I could work to calm my nerves.

"So there was this weird death down in Kansas… In the woods," Toby started as he brought up a few different web pages up on his computer screen. "The police think that it might be an animal attack, but that doesn't very likely to me."

He seemed to get distracted by something that he was reading on the screen, so I stepped up behind him asking, "Why couldn't it have been an animal attack if he was killed in some random part of the forest? That seems like a reasonable explanation to me."

If Toby said that an animal wasn't to blame for the death I believed him, but I still liked to test him by having him explain his reasoning to me. His focus remained solely on whatever article he was reading, so he actually jumped when I touched his shoulder in an attempt to gain his undivided attention. Toby then turned around in his chair to face me with a sheepish shrug and an apologetic smile.

"Sorry Addy… You were asking why I thought that, right?" I nodded and made myself comfortable in my La-Z-Boy recliner so that I could face him while I listened. "Well there was only one victim out of a group of like five of them at the campground. What animal will only kill one person and without making any attempts to hurt any of the others when they were really close by? That just doesn't sound right to me."

"Huh… That sounds pretty logical to me. Did you find anything else in any of the articles that might help with this case?" I asked with proud smile.

Toby's face lit up before he excitedly rambled off, "Actually yeah I did! I managed to find this urban legend that's really popular in the area. Depending on who you talk to it can change a bit but the consensus in all of the different versions is that a girl named Jenny Greentree died in the woods so now she haunts them."

"Any history of deaths in that area that fit this pattern?" I questioned hopefully.

"Oh… Umm…" He replied looking mildly panicked. "I'm not sure… I mean I didn't really look for any yet… But an angry spirit does seem to fit the suspect profile pretty good… Crap… And I… I know that that isn't the proper way to do research… I'm…"

"Hey! Hey! Don't you dare start that now Toby!" I jumped in quickly when he started to sound too similar to how I did when I was his age and Sydney had berated me for 'lazy' work, even though I had actually found the answer. "That was a really good… No that was an awesome find and we're just at the beginning of all of this, so no apologies okay?" I jumped in to reassure him. "Why don't you keep sifting through that pile of information that I know that you still have to go through while I pack?"

He gave me an uneasy smile then said, "Sure… Yeah I can do that and after you drop me off at home; I'll keep looking even deeper into the legend and stuff while you drive there."

I walked up to him and kissed the side of his head replying, "Sounds perfect to me Tobs."

Since the last death happened at night and spirits seemed to always be more active after darkness has fallen, I decided to head directly to the scene to check for any other spirit activity. Even though this was the best time of day for this part of the investigation, it definitely wasn't the ideal conditions to find the location. I followed the tire grooves in the dirt that created the only route in or out of this part of the woods. That path gave way to a one lane road that had a couple of clearings poking through sporadically which made it easy to see why so many people would come up here to camp, morbid curiosity of possibly seeing the ghost of Jenny Greentree notwithstanding.

I wasn't sure which exact small access road I was looking for until I saw a large, black quad-cab pickup truck parked near where I thought I needed to be. The distance fit the directions I had coaxed out of one of the locals and it seemed pretty logical that thrill seekers would be even more drawn to the area after the most recent death. As I pulled in behind the truck, cut my GTO's engine and turned off my headlights I couldn't decide what I was hoping. On one hand it would be nice if the looky-loos hadn't heard me drive up so I could sneak up on them and get the truth out of them about what they had seen or heard after I had surprised them, but on the other hand it wouldn't be the worst thing if they did hear me and just took off before they got hurt or worse.

After pulling out a heavy duty flashlight and my favorite piece of iron downpipe, I slowly made my way to the driver's side door. Even if I did decide that I wanted to scare these idiots off, I didn't want to spook them prematurely because that had landed me in a situation with me ducking buck shot more than once in the past. Thankfully my shallow breathing was the only sound that filled my ears when I reached the door handle.

Borrowing a move that officers from coast to coast adored to use on me in order to interrupt any much needed naps that I dared to take on the side of the road, I tapped the glass with the butt end of my flashlight. I waited for the count of five but heard no movement inside so I rapped against the window with three slower, more insistent taps. The air remained still so I clicked the mag flashlight on with it facing the ground and took in a deep calming breath. In one fluid motion I pulled the door open and pointed the bright light into the cab in the hopes that I would take anyone that was inside by surprise.

When I found nothing but empty air, I actually sighed out a relieved breath. As I laughed nervously to myself, I quickly swept the light beam over the bench seat to see what lay there. I had no idea if this truck had anything to with the job or not but I couldn't not check it out. Call it a paranoid habit, but I didn't make it this far without being cautious or wary of anything that appeared to be far from completely normal.

In the foot well on the passenger side, I found an empty mickey size bottle of bourbon, then another on the passenger seat and a third half-full bottle of the same size on the driver's seat. I reached to pick up the discarded cell phone that rested with the bourbon bottles thinking Here's hoping they didn't hear me. No one should be driving with this much alcohol in…

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! NAAAAAHHHH!" A male's wordless then strangled cry pulled me out of my thoughts.

"Fuck!" I muttered as my left hand squeezed the iron pipe tightly.

As I made my way towards what I hoped was the origin of the sound, I felt an icy cold breeze pass by my right cheek and my EMF meter spiked for a brief moment. I paused to slip the pipe under my arm pit, so that I could pull out the EMF meter and check for another reading. When it remained silent I continued into the darkness to see if I could find the new victim.

In order to keep from tripping I had to keep my flashlight facing my feet so the only thing that alerted me to the location of the body was another quick spike from the EMF meter as I walked away from the truck. I didn't bother delaying the inevitable and quickly raised the light beam into the air. When I saw the blood dripping from the victim's foot, I sighed loudly because there was nothing I hated more than being this close to saving someone and failing. But I couldn't let myself dwell on that right now because I had to figure out how to stop this from happening to anyone else.

"Greentree," I whispered out loud. I looked up the full length of the bloody corpse above me and sincerely said, "I'm so sorry, but I promise you… This ends here."

As I passed by the empty truck, I got the stupidest idea I had ever had in my life. I slipped my shirt sleeve over my hand and picked up the cell phone that I assumed belonged to the newly departed and dialed 911.

"911 Emergency. Do you need Police, Fire or Ambulance?"

I made sure that I sounded as breathy and scared as I could while I conjured up a few tears and replied hurriedly, "I'm at… At Widow's Peak… Oh God… I think he's… He's dead… Oh God… Oh God…"

"Who's dead?" The female voice asked in a kind, firm voice.

I mustered up a few more tears and distractedly mumbled, "I didn't think she was real… He said he was going to find her… Oh God… His truck…"

With that I terminated the call, wiped down the phone and dropped it where I originally found it. There was only one cemetery in town so I made that my next stop. If it really was Jenny Greentree offing stupid teenagers that knew her legend and should have known better than to tempt fate, then burning her bones should solve everything.

Luckily I didn't expect this job to be that easy (because seriously… Nothing in my life was that simple, especially at this point in time) so I wasn't surprised by what I found once I got to the cemetery. The grave I was looking for was open, which was wrong (if it was a civilian that did it) or extremely sloppy (if it was a hunter that was to blame). I stared down at the still smoldering bones and let out every expletive I knew in every language I had bothered to learn them in as I walked back to my car because there was no way that Jenny Greentree was the culprit I sought, so now I had to start from the beginning.

Fuck! Down to square one! Square fucking one! I screamed to myself over and over as I got ready for the new day. Fuck! Now where do I start?

I was still trying to keep myself as composed as possible to keep from drawing attention to myself in the parking lot of my motel as I made my way to Phantom when I heard, "Addy…" The male voice nearly turned giddy as he asked, "Is that really you Adelaide Jones?"

Just hearing his voice let me know who had call out to me which made me laugh to myself quietly. I still had a bright grin on my face when I turned and looked over at him to reply, "Why yes it most certainly is Garth Fitzgerald the Fourth." I dropped my bag by my car to rush forward to hug him asking, "So if you aren't shipping out soon, what the hell does this uniform have to do with this job?"

Garth looked down the length of his body then shrugged replying, "Nothing really in particular, but I figured that when Sam and Dean got here that they'd go Fed, so I wanted to try something different with the Coroner."

I swallowed my clarifying question of 'Sam and Dean Winchester?' in exchange for "Well you do look pretty good in uniform… And if you're heading to the morgue then I guess that means that I can focus my attention elsewhere."

"Really?" He asked almost jubilantly.

"Yeah," I answered suppressing a laugh. "So you go find out what you can there and…"

Garth smiled brightly as he interrupted, "Then we can regroup here to go over everything that I've found out so we can exterminate whatever it really is."

I gave him nothing more than a tight smile and a nod because I wasn't sure that I was ready to work with the Winchesters just yet. Garth might have tried calling out to me to confirm his plan, but I got into my car before I had a chance to hear him. I wanted nothing more than to pack my bags into my car and leave, but I couldn't risk looking like a coward again. Plus Garth wasn't aware of my new relationship status and I didn't want to do anything to draw his attention to us any more than we were going to just by being around each other.

The police weren't able to give me any information that I didn't already know. In fact when it came to the second victim I was pretty sure that I knew more than the local authorities because there had definitely been something out in the woods that night. I had no doubt in my mind that I had felt a spirit's presence out there but I still had no leads on its origins.

On my way back to my car Garth called me with his latest update from the morgue. The three of them were able to find a link from the two bodies to the local brewery which had a death that may or may not be a good candidate for an angry spirit. They were going to try to find out more, so Garth invited me back to his room to help him with research. Since his exact words were 'Maybe you could help me dig a bit deeper into this guy's past or something', I eagerly agreed to return to the motel as quickly as possible.

After changing out of my navy pant suit into jeans and a teal light weight, long sleeve sweater, I found myself standing in front of Garth's door and knocked on it softly. The door opened and I could hear Garth talking so I stepped in to find out what he was trying to tell me, but then I saw them. The Winchesters were in his room. Sam closed the door behind me saying a quick 'Hi', but Dean just ignored my presence (or so it seemed) as he drank from his flask. I turned back towards the door to leave then stopped to silently correct myself and turned back to face the room once again.

Garth nodded in my direction as he said, "Now two kids get ganked by unknown freakadeek."

I stayed behind Sam to read whatever was on his laptop in the hopes that I could learn about whatever they knew as Sam said, "According to this, Dale wasn't just a partner. He was also the 'Brewmaster'."

"'Brewmaster'?" Dean called out from his spot with distain.

I was concentrating so hard on the article in front of me that I didn't even notice that I was answering his question when I commented, "It means that he came up with all of the different blends for each of their ales and lagers."

Sam nodded in agreement and added, "He was widely considered a genius."

"All right, that's it," Dean replied as he stood up and stalked over to the bar. "No microbrew is worth… What is it…? Eight 'Food Magazine' awards?" He pulled out a few bottles of beer and then handed one to each of us, miraculously myself included. "Beer's not food. It's… Whatever water is."

I popped the cap off my beer replying with a laugh, "Well they don't make a 'Beverage Magazine', so food and beverages always get lumped together."

"Hmm… Thighslapper…" Dean mused before he took a drink from his bottle. "Wow… That's actually awesome. Damn it, I'm not even mad anymore."

My cheeks burned under a blush because I wasn't sure if he just meant about the beer or if he meant about other areas of our… HIS life. Either way I wasn't going to ask him any questions to get him to clear my questions up, so I once kept my concentration securely focused on Sam's laptop's screen. I couldn't really tell you what was happening in the room so I didn't know if I was interrupting anything when I tapped Sam on the shoulder, pointed to a specific part of a paragraph and whispered for him to check it out.

I then pointedly kept my attention on my beer and then tried to navigate through the article over Sam's shoulder while they all continued their back and forth. Okay so he 'quits' I reasoned to myself while savoring my beverage. Then he kills himself and becomes an angry spirit. Okay. Yeah that fits the MO… But how'd he follow both brothers into the woods? I didn't find anything out there that should tie him to that particular part of the forest. I stared down at the beer bottle in my hands shifting my thoughts. Huh… Could he have done something to attach himself to the beer bottles? Or… (I forced myself to swallow the liquid in my mouth and instantly felt queasy so I put the mostly full bottle onto the table.) Or did he do something to the beer batches themselves? Ugh… Gross… Gross… Wait! No… In the truck… There…

"Unit to McCann residence. 698 Washburn," the voice of a police dispatcher cut-in through my thoughts.

Sam looked up from his computer to ask, "'McCann residence'? As in Jim McCann?"

"As in, let's hope for their sake our spirito ain't made it out of the woods," Garth replied before he poured himself off his bar stool. "All right. Let's go check it."

"Uhh… You guys go. I'm gonna visit the widow," Sam said from his spot at the table.

The Winchesters exchanged a look and after Sam gave his brother a triumphant smile, the eldest turned his eyes to me. Garth was already out the door, so I tilted my head towards him saying, "He shouldn't be driving and if you're with him then it's only fair that Sam gets some back up too."

Although he didn't seem happy about it, Dean nodded then left the room. I gave it a couple of seconds and then I turned to follow him out the door but was stopped by Sam grabbing my arm softly asking, "Addy?"

I shook my head then quietly countered, "Sam? Two on one or one on one…? What do you think will make her less defensive?" He thought about it then opened his mouth to reply so I added, "Woman scorned plus grieving widow who lost her true love…? Do you really want to get caught in the middle of that Bitchfest during a job?"

"Addy…" Sam tried again sounding overly supportive.

I kept my eyes on my hand that was on the door knob as I said, "Sam… Just… You'll be better at playing sympathetic than I will right now…" I then forced myself to look up at him as I quietly admitted, "I haven't met a woman yet that has had the willpower to resist the Sam Winchester charm when you really turn it on. You flash her your 'I'm here for you' smile and she'll be putty in your hands… Plus this way I can find out if Toby has come up with anything for us yet."

I could tell that he wanted to protest but instead he just squeezed my arm and replied, "Yeah that makes sense. Make sure to say hi to Toby for me."

Back in my room I got down to work right away in order to keep my mind from straying away to more unpleasant topics than the two recent murders in the McCann family. As I typed on my laptop, the fact that the topic of two deaths of complete strangers was more appealing to me than thinking of the man that left with Garth nearly caused me to laugh at the lunacy of it. But I had never claimed to be normal, so I tried to just take this in stride like I had every other weird thing in my life as well.

"Addy! Hey! How are things going in Kansas?" Toby's excited voice greeted me on the phone.

I laughed quietly then answered, "Frustrating as usual. I thought you had this one all figured out, but when I got here I found out that another hunter was here with the same theory. He did a pretty good salt and burn…"

"But there was another murder in the woods," Toby interrupted with a hint of panic.

"I know Buddy and I swear it has to be a spirit of some kind, but I'm hitting a brick wall here. Garth, that's the other hunter, he's checking a lead now, so I was kind of hoping I could get you to help me," I replied with a soft, placating tone.

I could hear Toby move around his room before he said, "Of course I'll help. What do you need me to look into since Jenny Greentree seems to be a dead end?"

"You know me too well," I answered humorously. "I was hoping that you could work your Toby magic and see what you can find out about Dale Lampert. He apparently died by committing suicide, but exact details on how and where have been hard to dig up…"

"Alright… Dale Lampert… I have something here saying he works… No wait… He worked for Thighslapper Ale… Is that the guy you're talking about?"

"Yeah, that's him. He was also a co-owner."

"Okay this is definitely him. Give me a couple of hours and I'll call you if I find something worthwhile, okay?"

That of course was more than alright to me, so I said a quick goodbye adding, "Call me even if it doesn't seem worthwhile." We then exchanged our usual 'I love yous' before I turned my attention back to my computer. I stayed on my bed searching through different websites until my back muscles started to cramp and hurt. While I was stretching and trying to get my circulation going again, I started wondering if we were being too specific by trying to find a person that was the origin of all of this. In the back of my mind I kept thinking that sometimes places or events could spawn negative energy that on the rarest of occasions could manifest themselves as angry entities.

While I was looking into this new angle I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew Garth was pounding on my room door calling out my name at the top of his lungs.

"I think it might be at the brewery," he explained as he guzzled down a mini-bar sized bottle of booze then threw it 'touch-down style' to the ground. "It's probably going after Baxter's son."

He moved around my room in a bit of a blur and I barely had a chance to catch up with his last statements before he asked in shocked dismay, "Don't you have any alcohol in this place?"

I automatically walked over to the dresser and pulled out a bottle of wine and a bottle of Glenlivet scotch from the middle drawer to show him. He smiled brightly then tugged on my arm saying, "Good… Good… Leave the wine but bring the scotch." I nodded while following his instructions and then it hit me that I had no idea why he was so frantic. I mean this was Garth and I was actually letting him call the shots and yet it felt right. He caught onto my hesitation right away and quickly added as he tossed my keys at my face, "You drive while I explain."

Once we both were settled in my car, I laughed to myself then said, "This new lady in your life has done wonders for you. Don't you dare fuck this up with her Garth… You hear me?"

He answered by swallowing down another tiny bottle of liquor before he hastily recounted the chain of events that led us to this point. The Winchesters found a box that contained a spirit that Dale had captured into order to get back at his partners for pushing him out of the company. This revenge seemed to be taking the form of the spirit killing McCann's and Baxter's children, which was why we were heading to the brew house right now, to save the son that no one but Baxter was aware of. That relationship hit more than close to home for me so I was happy to help keep him alive for something he was solely pulled into because of an absentee father that he may never know existed.

Garth dropped another petite bottle that he had emptied at his feet, causing me to ask as I parked in the lot at the brewery, "Okay… Fine but what's up with all of the little sample sized bottles you're knocking back there?"

"It's a Shojo Addy!" Garth replied as if that should make perfect sense to me. "You have to be drunk to see it!" I continued staring at him, so Garth shoved the bottle of scotch into my hand forcefully instructing, "Drink this then go through the back and look for a blond guy named 'Lee'. I'll call Dean to update him before I go in!"

He was out of the car before I could say anything else, so I just popped the cork out of the bottle and reasoned with myself, "You've heard crazier theories Addy… Bottoms up!"

The floor was barely starting to spin as I finished the bottle of scotch and then I threw it to the warehouse's concrete floor without caring about the mess I made. My coordination didn't last as I continued towards Sam's voice, but he was quickly silenced by a petite woman with long black hair in a tattered white dress. She easily threw him into the wall before I could even attempt to stop her, not that I truly knew how to keep her from hurting him.

I watched Sam crumple into a ball on the ground at the hand of the Shojo while I drunkenly screamed his name in terror. When she turned her attention towards me, I tried my best to run away but I immediately felt a cold hand grasping the hair at the back of my head.

Just as the spirit smashed my forehead against one of the kegs on the shelf across from the wall I head Sam's brother yell to someone, "Get back!"

"Bitch!" I cried out as I struggled against the Shojo's hold after she's hit my head at least twice against the metal barrel. She seemed to gain some strength and then she smacked my forehead against the keg once more with a forceful blow that rendered my consciousness completely black.

The next thing I remembered hearing before I surrendered completely to an all-encompassing blackness was the elder Winchester's voice almost tearfully asking, "Bobby? Are you here? Come on… Do something."

I woke up briefly when Dean picked me up off the warehouse floor as he whispered into my ear, "It's okay Lay, I've got you… There you go… Just put your arms around my… Good girl… I've got you." He shifted me in his arms and once I tucked my head under his chin he yelled, "Sam…? Sam!"

"Yeah, I'm here," the younger brother answered from somewhere behind Dean.

I went completely limp and lost all consciousness until I woke up on the bed in my motel room feeling way too hot for my clothing. As I struggled with my coordination I was suddenly stopped by someone or something from slipping out of my jeans and sweater like I desperately wanted to do. My mind was too tired to press the subject because something deep down inside told me that it was better to remain fully clothed right now anyways. Even though my brain was cloaked in a haze of booze and pain from the head injury, I still somehow felt completely safe and secure even though all of my training told me that I shouldn't.

During the night in my 'dreams' I not only tried to call Toby to explain everything that had actually happened, but I also tried to call the local authorities to let them know that everything that had happened was completely over as well. When that dream was over I instantly found myself running to the bathroom and expelling everything that I had ingested during the day into my motel room's toilet. Without my intervention my hair was pulled away from my face into a loose ponytail many times during the night while I returned to the bathroom to expel whatever contents were left in my stomach into the toilet bowl. But the last dream I remember having was me being carried in some guy's arms to my bed and being laid out with my head on the pillow.

When I woke up out of my drunken stupor, I immediately smelled a familiar scent coming from my "pillow". I affectionately rubbed my left cheek against the material of what I thought was my pillow until I realized I was actually in one of my imagined worse case scenarios. I had sought 'comfort' from many a hunter other than Dean Winchester in the past, so it wasn't unusual to wake up with someone, well some random guy, in my bed when I was on the road. But just by scent alone I knew that it was the eldest Winchester brother that I was snuggling up against right now. When I realized that I froze immediately in my spot even though I knew there was no way that he couldn't have felt my movements.

I heard him take in a deep breath (almost as if he was still waking himself up) and then he petted my hair as he quietly (and somewhat affectionately) said, "Morning Sleeping Beauty."

Shit… SHIT! I slept with HIM last night! Wait… WAIT! You didn't do anything more than use him as a pillow, right? Still fully clothed Addy… Both of you… I thought to myself in a panic before I pushed myself off of his chest. I tried to whip myself around so that I would be sitting up with my legs hanging over the edge, but my movements were too quick so I ended up with my hands digging into my hair to steady my head instead. Dean leaned forward to reach out to me but he stopped himself when I curled further into myself in my spot where I was now sitting, groaning through the pain in my head.

I let out a particularly loud groan then very slowly straightened myself up saying, "Remind me to punch Garth in the throat the next time I see him." Dean was on his feet in front of me and he quirked a questioning eyebrow to me as he handed me a glass of water. "Thanks… And yeah I totally owe him because he talked me into drinking a whole fucking bottle of scotch… Fuck… I swore that I would never ever do that again after… Well you know…"

Dean let out a soft, almost uncomfortable chuckle as he sat down on the bed to my left, leaving a large gap between us. There was a spot on my forehead that was burning so much that I instinctively touched it gently with the fingertips of my right hand. When I pulled my hand back I noticed that there was a small bit of blood on my fingertips. I moved to stand up but was thankfully stopped by Dean who placed a firm hand on my right shoulder as he gently cleaned my cut with a wet facecloth.

"Or your headache might have had something to do with the Shojo trying to dent a metal keg with your head Lay," he commented humorously.

"Oh shit! The Shojo! Is she…? Is HE…?" I asked distractedly while Dean worked at cleaning and dressing the wound on my forehead.

He chuckled softly then took a step back to look down at me as he replied, "I ganked the Shojo and other than being a little more than freaked the fuck out, Baxter's son is absolutely fine." I nodded then swallowed hard as he ran his fingertips over the perimeter of the Band-Aid he had place on my head. "It might still sting a little, but the cut really isn't all that deep or bad. I brought some pain killers over just in case you needed them because I wasn't sure if you would have any with you or not."

I nearly sighed with relief at the way he and I seemed to be as nervous as I felt, but I didn't acknowledge it and just picked up the pill bottle resting on the night stand saying, "I definitely don't have anything as good as these in my bag. These are like magic…" I forced myself to make eye contact with him but as soon as our eyes locked my words got stuck in my throat. I watched his Adam's apple bob up and down so I tried again to thank him. But what came out instead was a quick, "I really need to go to the bathroom."

With that I stood up and nearly ran into the small bathroom. After I slammed the door shut I had to resist the urge to bang my head against it to keep from causing more damage to my face right now. Even though it looked like I was trying to run away from him, my body was quick to remind me that I wasn't actually lying to him when I said I need to use the facilities.

I finally caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror as I washed my hands and I couldn't have held back the groan that tumbled out of me even if I had tried. The cut must have been fairly small because it had only taken a regular sized Band-Aid to cover it even though the small bruises I had acquired were scattered all over my cheeks and forehead. My hair was tangled mess from my restless sleep and numerous trips to the toilet during the night. By the time I was done taming and smoothing my hair out, I felt like I had ripped more than half of my hair out of my head with the brush.

After washing my face and replacing the wet bandage on my head, I checked out my reflection once again. With my hair now tamed, I thought that I looked perfectly presentable. Well at least the bruises that were pretty dark but something like that had never fazed either of us in the past, so I didn't really worry about them now.

I smoothed down my shirt then opened the door saying, "So I'm pretty sure I…"

I stopped in my spot and quickly scanned the room, but it was no use, the main room was completely empty. He must have slipped out when I shut myself off in the bathroom. I cursed under my breath, but none of my frustration was directed at him. He had spent the night with me to make sure that I would actually wake up in the morning and did I do? I freaked out and made it look like I didn't appreciate his efforts.

I didn't bother changing, even though my shirt had droplets of blood all over the front of it, because I wanted to get to Garth's room as soon as possible to try to fix this situation. My heart sank when I saw that Garth's car was gone and I was reminded that I hadn't paid attention to what car the Winchesters were using right now, so I couldn't be sure that they were still here. I kept my eyes on the parking lot as I moved towards the room on the other side of the cement wall to my right and caught the faint sounds of male voices.

Without worrying about what conversation I might be interrupting, I knocked on the door with a shaking hand, nut it still sounded somewhat confident. Dean opened the door still facing Sam, while I was knocking, saying "All right" to his brother, but he fell mute when he saw me standing in front of him.

He continued to stare at me, so I hesitantly nodded towards the inside of the room for silent permission to enter. When he caught on to my question he quickly moved out of the way to let me pass by. Once I was in the room Dean busied himself with packing a couple of things into his bag on the couch while Sam and I exchanged nervous smiles. I wanted to get my apology slash thank you out, but I had momentarily forgotten that that would mean I would be doing it with Sam as my audience when I had 'forced' my way into their room.

Get over it Addy. You owe him this much after what he did last night. I forcefully reminded myself why I was here before saying, "So you took off so fast that I didn't get a chance to thank you. Between the booze and the head injury I'm pretty sure that I would have died from choking on my own vomit or something. And given our… Well… Anyway you really didn't have to babysit me, but I'm really grateful that you did." We all stood there in silence for a moment until I added under my breath, "Now cue the awkwardness once again."

Sam let out a soft chuckle then said (when his brother and I gave him a look for laughing) "What? It's just that Dean and I thought that things would be less awkward if he spent the night with you since… Weill since he KNOWS you and all…"

"Sam," I laughed out as I gently slapped his arm. "But I don't think you guys were wrong. Thanks again. I uhh… I guess that I'll be seeing you guys around then."

"I guess you will," Sam answered because Dean had opted to remain silent.

I made it to the door and stopped with my hand on the knob to turn and face the brothers again. I kept my eyes trained on the eldest but tried to make it sound like I was speaking to both of the Winchesters, "You guys should really try harder to answer your voicemails. Toby's done some pretty solid research on Dick Roman and… Well… He really misses talking with you… Both of you guys… So when you get a chance, you should call him… I mean if you want to and all…" I opened the door then called out around the lump in my throat, "Thanks again."

After the door closed behind me, Sam gaped at his brother in shock then asked, "You haven't talked to Toby since we left Iowa?"

"Nope," Dean replied non-committedly. Sam gave his brother an unimpressed look so Dean added sounding overly defensive, "Look I figured that he wouldn't want to talk to me after she told him everything that had happened."

Sam let out a quiet laugh then countered as he shook his head, "No… Addy hasn't told him about why you aren't together. She thinks you two have a good thing going and she doesn't think it would be fair for her to ruin it for you guys."

"Really?" Dean replied sounding like he didn't actually believe what he had heard come out of his brother's mouth.

Sam resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he answered, "Really. They've even had a few screaming matches because Addy's refused to tell him. I'm pretty sure the only fights the two of them have had lately have been about her not telling Toby why you two called it quits."

"Shit," Dean cursed under his breath as he zipped up his bag and turned to face his brother. Sam gave Dean and expectant look so Dean quickly replied, "Fine… Fine… I'll call him… During our next pit stop, okay? Well, you want to grab some brunch and some brews in the meantime?"

Sam shook his head while hefting his bags onto his shoulder answering with a groan, "Ugh, no. I'm so hung over. Let's just hit the road."

"All right," Dean replied with a smile as he opened the door and motioned for Sam to lead the way to the car.